Val

Thank you! I decided that not all my SSTOs needed to be record breakers. So I made userfriendlyness the primary focus of this one.

Spaceplane SSTO D-4 Outrider [stock] is an evolution of the D-3 Ranger I made yesterday. [TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=align: center]Standard config [/TD] [TD=align: center]Medium Range config [/TD] [TD=align: center]Long Range config [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] It is also possible to make a Shuttle config that will take 8 passengers and 4 t cargo to a station in medium Kerbin orbit. Other combinations are also possible.

You did not land on me. You landed on Vall, I'd guess.

I worked on expanding my career friendly-ish D-series spaceplane SSTOs. Was very productive. [TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD] D-2 Scout Mk.3 [/TD] [TD] D-2 Scout Mk.4 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Both feature a flexible build system that allows for easy replacement of the middle segments, without needing to rebalance and retune the craft. Finally, I also made a, not so career friendly, RAPIER powered version, that also has the flexible build system. [TABLE=width: 50%] [TR] [TD] D-3 Ranger [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Hi, Kat. I tried the new editing UI. It looks really great and is very smooth to work with. But I miss the snap-to of the old one. Couldn't find a way to enable that. Is it possible? Thanks for a great site. Val.

That is very impressive!(But why does the Shuttle have Main Engines? They don't seem used at all)

Dang! That's a big and nice looking spaceplane. What does it weigh on take-off and what's the cargo capacity? (Can't open the download link. I think it's blocked at my workplace)

I got it to orbit with ~1250 m/s, but I had to make 2 small changes before it was flyable. Landing gear was too far back. Tail fin/Vertical stabilizer was too far forward. CoL was also a little too far back, probably because the parts you replaced were shorter than the replacement, so this might not be a an issue on the original. Craft file: Epsilon2 (Mk.2) More details and ascent described in album.

At work, I had an issue connecting to a SFTP server. One account was able to login successfully, the other account was got an Access Denied message. Both accounts connected from the same IP. And both accounts were able to successfully login from other IPs. I suggested that maybe the account had an IP restriction, but the guy managing the SFTP server, kept insisting that it was a firewall issue on my end. Took a week of back and forth mails before his colleague finally found and removed the IP restriction.

Made a small and reasonably cheap medium range spaceplane SSTO with modest tech requirements. The Turbo Ramjet engine is the only 300 point tech node required. It's capable of Mun or Minmus flyby or lifting 4.5 t payload to LKO. If the payload is extra fuel it can even go into orbit around Mun or Minmus and return to Kerbin. [TABLE=width: 50%] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Sorry, the craft still won't load in my install.Both the game and KerbalX reports it as having mods still. [TABLE=class: grid] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD] I made a stock "Kerbalized" version of the awesome looking 1979 Rockwell Spaceplane SSTO Concept, the Star-Raker. And in the process discovered where some of the larger B9 spaceplane parts draw inspiration from.[/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

While I wish I could take credit for this awesome mod, I think you got some names confused. [thread=92764]Ven[/thread], is who you're looking for.(which is extra confusing for me because Ven is pretty similar to my RL name)

Not sure if this counts as a necro, but I just had that happen, as did ​jlcarneiro. Craft (stock)

Gratz. That's quite impressive!

Yes, the starting node of a strut (and fuel line) produce drag if it is attached to a part that is not shielded by a cargo bay or fairing. And it's quite a lot of drag, relative to it's size. Putting 5 pairs of struts on a spaceplane can neuter it to the point that it doesn't reach orbit. I avoid them as much as possible. There're some really informative posts in these threads. SSTO cookbook. (bunch of "recipes" and some wing info) "simple" rule to build spaceplanes? (especially from GoSlash27) On the particulars of drag in 1.0.4 (part comparisons and discussion of drag)

Yeah. It's a really cool looking craft you made. The clipping makes me sad, though.

You're very welcome. Glad to be of service. Yes, my recreation had the cyan spike on the right tank, too. (Added to my album) First of all. Gratz on making it to orbit. Well done!Unfortunately, I wasn't able to load the craft, with those mods installed... (So I can't prove whether you are right ) But I am a lousy pilot. I like the designing part of KSP more, so I let MechJeb Smart A.S.S fly my crafts. The only part of the flying I do, is to tell MechJeb what pitch angle to hold. Makes it much easier to make consistent, reproducible ascents. Once above 10 km and 1000 m/s, how much dV you end up with in orbit is highly dependent on drag (craft's base drag and control inputs), the speed you achieve while airbreathing and your pitch-to-ascent-angle ratio (I just made that term up. Is there an official term for it?) Well, to get that ratio low I initiate the pitch up from 10 km, because down there, the air is thick enough, that prograde marker will follow craft pitch changes very swiftly. The wings produce more lift and the air-breathing engines are still close to maximum thrust. Doing the pitch up at higher altitudes causes more drag losses, because it takes longer to change the direction of the craft. It's going faster, has less lift from wings and less thrust from engines. At least in my experience. The exact pitch angle I choose is dependant on TWR in the phase after air-breathing. I use 10o on most my designs, 15o on a few, and 20o on a couple of high TWR designs. But the lower the angle, the better in my opinion.

Ah. Got it. Thank you, very much for explaining and correcting my misinterpretation of the observations.At least, I was right about stack node drag not having changed

Yes, that is kinda what, I meant. But I was probably expressing it in a misleading way, because the way I'm approaching it.To me, any drag that could be removed/reduced is something that is causing drag. From your explanation, I can see that my understanding wasn't quite correct, just an approximation. It's the other way around. It's not nodes themselves that cause drag, but attaching something to a node, can reduce the parts drag. I'm still wondering, though. Will it reduce drag on Ven's LV-N, if the 3rd node is covered with an appropriate nose/tail cone?

I recreated your craft (Epsilon) as best I could from your pictures. I couldn't figure out what part(s) you have behind the cockpit, so I replaced that with a dummy weight to get as close to same weight as yours. I also didn't put any surface lights on it. It is a very capable design. I got it to orbit with nearly 1400 m/s dV left. Very nice! I don't know, why you couldn't, but I have 2 guesses. You didn't include a fuel line and forgot to transfer leftover fuel from the center tank. Your ascent profile needs improvement. This is the ascent profile I used. Take-off, then continue at 5o pitch to gather speed. When speed is 250 m/s, pitch up to 15o. At 8 km altitude start pitching down so your flying level between 9 and 10 km. Let the speed build up to 1000 m/s. Pitch up slowly (over 10-15 seconds) to 10o above horizon without losing speed, but fast enough that you don't overheat. At 18 km engage the LV-909s. Keep nose at 10o. Point the nose prograde when AP is above 60 km. (Around 35-40 km). Throttle down, when AP is above 80 km. (A few seconds later) Coast to space and circularize. Last 2 images from SPH

Yes, unused stack nodes have always caused drag in stock aerodynamics and probably hasn't changed much since before 1.0. Because other sources of drag are much lower now, stack nodes are now one of the biggest sources of drag.Source: On the particulars of drag in 1.0.4

Try this ascent profile: After take-off, accelerate to 400 m/s at sealevel (below 300 m altitude) Pitch up slowly, while still accelerating, to 15o above the horizon. At 8 km start pitching down so you're flying level with the horizon between 9 and 10 km altitude. Accelerate to 1000 m/s. Again slowly pitch up to 15o without losing speed. At 22 km switch RAPIERs to rocket mode. (You'll lose too much speed if you wait until they switch automatically) At 27 km pitch down to 10o and hold that. When AP reaches 60 km, point the craft prograde. When AP is 80 km or more, throttle down and coast to space. Off-topicMy passenger spaceplane SSTO takes 160 kerbals to space. But it also weighs 280 t and is power by 6 RAPIERs and 4 Turbo Ramjets. [TABLE=width: 80%] [TR] [TD] [/TD][/TR] [/TABLE]

Hmm. That sounds like you can't avoid an open stack node, when not using tankbutts. If that is the case, it's bad news for drag

I'll be redesigning/rebuilding everything either way and try to incorporate any new parts.